Plug-in Chips
Plug-in Chips are the skill system of ''NieR:Automata''. Functionality The system in Nier Automata conceptualizes skills as swappable chipsets added to the YoRHa unit the player is controlling. The player can set up three sets of chips either manually or having the game assign them automatically according to one of several presets. The chipsets are swapped on the pause menu, and only the equipped set has any effect on gameplay. Each chip uses a set about of "storage," which is a stat the player can upgrade from any merchant that sells Pod programs (most obviously the one by the medical bay in the Resistance base). Storage upgrades allow the cap to be increased up to 128. Chips can be set down anywhere on the storage grid that the player feels like, though a chip must fit into the space they are attempting to put it in. The "Optimize" command at the bottom of the chip equip menu will place all chips in order on the grid and eliminate any gaps, removing the need to do this manually. All chips aside from those in the "System" category, the "Auto" chips that only function on Easy mode and a few later ones have a set level from 0 to +8 as well, which dictates both the range of their storage cost and the degree of effect they have. Chips of these types are spawned with a random amount of storage usage within a set range: "diamond" chips are those with the lowest possible stat within that range, and display a black diamond in their name to indicate their quality. The effects of most chips will stack, but only up to a certain point: if chips that would produce a greater effect are equipped, the warning "effect limit exceeded" will appear, and the effect will be capped at the maximum allowed. Level 8 chips always produce this maximum effect on their own. Chips purchased from merchants will always have the highest possible storage cost for their level, and so are not worth buying unless the player is absolutely desperate for a particular effect. Fusion system The player can combine or "fuse" chips at the same merchants mentioned above. This consists of combining two chips of the same level (for a price) to form a chip one level higher. Their storage cost uses a fairly complex rounding system wherein chips at some levels round their storage cost up while others round it down. In general, the idea is to find low-cost chips to fuse to product superior effects. It should be noted that a very high-level chip can end up having a greater storage cost than a number of low-level chips that create the same effect. The merchant in the Resistance camp can only fuse chips up to level 6, after which they will no longer appear on her menu. To fuse chips at higher levels, the player must find a friendly machine lifeform, the Canyon Machine, at the bottom of the valley in Forest Kingdom and complete the quest Lord of the Valley, after which the Canyon Machine will become a merchant and allow fusing of level 6 and 7 chips. Limit and disposal Though this is stated nowhere in the game, the player can only carry 99 chips of all types at any given time, after which any further chips will fail to be picked up in the same way as any other surplus inventory item, and will be automatically discarded if given as mission rewards. There is no actual counter for how many chips the player is currently holding, so regularly cleaning junk chips out of inventory is a good idea. So that the player is never placed in a position where they cannot pick up a chip they want, a "Destroy Chip" option is present in the skills menu. This allows a player to remove chips from their inventory to pick up new ones, though unlike selling them at a vendor there does not appear to be any reward for doing this other than the freed-up inventory space. Loss In routes A and B, if the player character dies, all chips in their current chipset other than system chips are taken from them and placed on a corpse at the location where the death occurred. In a manner similar to the Dark Souls games, the player has a limited amount of time to return to their body and use the "retrieve" command before their chips are permanently lost, and they will also be lost if the character dies again before the chips are retrieved. The game does not, however, drop an autosave on death, and so the player can simply reload their last save and restore all of their chips if they feel so inclined. After route B is finished, this mechanic ceases to apply: death instead requires reloading the player's last save. Chip types System System chips construct the elements of the HUD. Attack Attack chips affect offensive abilities. This does not include hacking abilities (see Hacking). * Weapon Attack Up increases the direct damage of physical attacks, including Shockwaves (see below). * Down-Attack Up increases the damage of the helmbreaker (mid-air strong attack) from 2B and A2. Useless for 9S. * Critical Up increases the percentage chance of a critical strike from physical attacks. Critical strikes deal enormously greater damage than standard hits, so even a small percentage boost results in an enormous increase to overall damage output. * Ranged Attack Up increases the damage of Pod weapon fire. * Shock Wave adds a projectile "sword arc" which is fired on every physical attack and deals a set fraction of the damage of that attack. The level of the Shock Wave chip increases the fraction of damage dealt by the projectile. The Shock Wave still counts as a physical rather than a projectile attack. * Last Stand increases attack power by a set amount if the player character's HP drops below 25%. * Counter adds the ability to perform a counter-attack by tilting the movement stick towards the enemy right as the attack connects, rather than by striking to hit the enemy's weapon (which player characters can always do). If successful, the player can then attack to perform a counter-hit in the same manner as after a perfect dodge. The level 0 chip does nothing else, while at higher levels a successful counter will also deal a percentage of the damage the enemy's attack would have dealt back to it. * Charge Attack increases the damage of the charge (hold strong) attack for 2B and A2. Useless for 9S. Defense Defense chips provide effects such as damage reduction and extra methods of healing. * Melee Defense increases defense against physical attacks. * Ranged Defense increases defense against projectile attacks. * Anti-Chain Damage creates a period of invulnerability after being hit during which the player character cannot be hit again, with the duration increasing as the chip levels up. Does not work when controlling a Flight Unit or a hacked machine lifeform. * Resilience prevents attacks from knocking the player character down if they have more than a certain level of health: the required health decreases as the level of the chip increases. * Max HP Up increases the upper limit of the character's hitpoints. Equipping these chips will require the use of healing to fill the gauge, as it is not automatically filled. * Offensive Heal heals the player character for a percentage of the damage they deal to enemies, with the percentage increasing at higher levels. Does heal a Flight Unit, but has no effect if controlling a machine lifeform. * Deadly Heal heals a percentage of the player character's health every time they kill an enemy, with the percentage increasing at higher levels. Note that detonating an enemy via hacking will not trigger this chip. Does heal a Flight Unit, but has no effect if controlling a machine lifeform. * Auto-Heal will start to automatically replenish the player character's health after a set period of taking no further damage. As the level increases, the delay before healing is shortened and the rate of replenishment increased. Does heal a Flight Unit, but has no effect if controlling a machine lifeform. * Damage Absorb gives a percentage chance that all damage dealt by a particular attack will be automatically healed: the percentage increases as the level increases. * Reset provides a changes that, on reaching 0 HP, the player character will be revived with a certain percentage of their maximum HP restored. As the level increases, the percentage chance of revival increases and the amount of health restored increases. Notably, this chip still works on Very Hard, and is the only way to survive a hit in that mode. Support Support chips affect gameplay in other ways. Certain chips can only be equipped in Easy mode. * Fast Cooldown reduces the time it takes for a Pod to complete its cooldown time after using a special attack. * Evade Range Up increases the distance a player character can evade if the evade button is held. Notably, it also increases the number of invincible ("i") frames in the evasion animation. * Moving Speed Up increases the player character's run and sprint speeds. * Drop Rate Up increases the rate at which enemies drop items such as chips and materials. It does not appear to have any effect on the rarity of these, however. * EXP Gain Up increases the amount of experience gained from defeating enemies. * Vengeance provides a set chance that a hit will deal the same damage to the enemy that delivered it as it did to the player character. It is similar to the additional effect of Counter +1 and higher, save that the damage the enemy takes is always 100% of their attack, and that the damage to the player character is not negated. * Overclock slows down time for a set period after a Perfect Evade, in a similar manner to past Platinum titles Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising. * Taunt Up increases the effect of a taunt (repeatedly flash the Pod light as any character, or hold light attack as A2), adding a percentage buff to damage dealt both to and by the taunted enemy. Note that Taunt Up is either bugged or not described correctly as it does not function the way the effect limit says it does. Taunt Up's effect does not stack, rather only the effect of the highest-rated Taunt Up chip the player has will be present if more than one is equipped. * Auto-Use Item will automatically use a healing item if the player character's health is at 30% or lower: at higher levels, it will also provide a percentage increase to the effect of that item. It will always use the lowest-quality healing items in the player's inventory. 2B starts the game with one of these equipped. * Auto-Collect Items draws in pickup items in the same manner that is normally done with money, removing the need to manually pick them up. * Bullet Detonation causes a bullet that hits the player character's weapon or the character themselves to explode, clearing out any other projectiles in a large area around it. * Evasive System automatically slows down time when the player is close to enemy projectiles. * Item Scan displays all recourse points that do not require the Pod Scanner to find, all items dropped by enemies, and all chests on the minimap. Resource points are blue dots, while chests are two blue rectangles set at right-angles to each other. * Auto-Attack, Auto-Fire, Auto-Evade, Auto-Program and Auto-Weapon Switch are chips that only work in Easy mode, They are supposed to function as "training wheels" that can be turned on and off using the lock-on button. Notably, they also work in the Hacking minigame, and can be used to very easily cheese the Arcade Challenge Mode since they make it literally impossible to be hit. Hacking Hacking chips affect hacking abilities. These chips are unlikely to drop before playing as 9S, though it is possible in some areas. * Hijack Boost increases the level of any enemy that 9S is controlling remotely, including those in the Forest Colosseum DLC. * Stun will immobilise a hacked foe (if they are not immediately killed) and emit a powerful blast. As the level increases, both the size of the blast and the duration of the stun effect increases. * Combust will set fire to a hacked foe, dealing damage over time. * Heal Drops Up increases the chance that an enemy defeated by hacking will drop a health item on death. Category:NieR: Automata Category:Gameplay